Meet the airport's first meditation room

The sound of silence arrives at busy Lindbergh Field

Lindbergh Field's new meditation room includes an altar, wooden benches and six large panels with silk-screened images of San Diego's harbor and downtown skyline. Photo courtesy of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Lindbergh Field's new meditation room includes an altar, wooden benches and six large panels with silk-screened images of San Diego's harbor and downtown skyline. Photo courtesy of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Travelers at Lindbergh Field’s Terminal 2 have a new place for chi on the way to Chicago or ohm on the way to Omaha.

The airport revealed its first-ever meditation room on Friday, dubbed the “Spirit of Silence.”

Located behind security gates and removed from the bustle of the rest of the terminal, the new room allows passengers to pray, read a book or meditate in a quiet space. It is open to all travelers. Speaking loudly or working on laptops is discouraged, officials said.

“Most large airports have a chapel. That is what this is,” said Constance White, the airport’s art program manager, touring the room this week. “The term ‘meditation space’ is what airports are trending to.”

Meditation rooms have opened at airports in San Francisco and Nashville, among others, White said. Nondenominational chapels have long been open at airports in Atlanta and other cities, she added.

The room at San Diego International Airport opened to the public Friday morning following an invocation ceremony and remarks from Norie Sato, the Seattle-based artist who designed it.

No specific reason prevented Lindbergh Field from having a chapel before, aside from perhaps a lack of space before a recent expansion, an airport spokeswoman said.

The meditation room is adorned with an altar, plain wooden benches and six glass panels colored a calming blue and gray, mimicking an ocean setting. The 12-foot panels include several silk-screened photos, offering subtle but scenic glimpses of San Diego’s harbor and downtown skyline.

The airport’s Terminal 1 does not have a chapel or meditation room, though White said such a space may be considered for the future rebuild of that aging passenger building.

Passing through Lindbergh Field this week, Mike Coyle, a San Diego resident and frequent flier, said he could have used a meditation room earlier this week at the airport in Minneapolis. His flight was delayed two and a half hours, he said, due to mechanical problems.

Asked whether San Diego’s new sacred space will be worth the more than $200,000 cost, Coyle said, “Time will tell. That depends on how much it gets used.”

White said the artist’s budget for the room was $209,000, which included design, fabrication and installation costs. Airport officials said they were not able to provide the room’s total cost, including utilities and other expenses, because they do not have such figures broken out.

Airport user fees and other airport revenue paid for the room, officials said. It is one of the final pieces of Lindbergh Field’s $907 million Terminal 2 expansion, which added 10 new gates, a dual-level roadway and more dining and shopping options.

The “Spirit of Silence,” is located near the Terminal 2 West rotunda, across from Stone Brewing Co. and the airport’s large Sea Rhythms statue and fountain.

Passengers will see signs calling it the “Reflection Room.” Airport officials said they are using the term reflection and meditation interchangeably.

In about a month, the airport will open a nearby digital lounge, a dedicated space for people to work on laptops and other electronic devices, complete with several kinds of hookups.